Becoming Who We Are
by Daydreamr4ever
Summary: Melissa and Joey three-part fic. Set in a few years in the future. No spoilers. Mel and Joe are happily dating, and then they discover something life-changing. How will it affect their relationship?
1. Chapter 1: Big News

**A/N: Hello, little readers! I know I promised Chapter 4 of Family today, but I'm running out of steam on that one already. It's nearly done, though, and should be up Monday, if not tomorrow. **

**This, however, is just a little fluff piece I dreamed up in my head, that if, in a few years, Mel and Joe had a baby? Three-part fic, new chapter every other day! Enjoy!**

**Oh, and Disclaimer: I don't own Melissa and Joey. If only I did...**

**~Caitlyn**

* * *

"Waffles?" Were Mel's hopeful first words to Joe that morning as she clomped down the stairs in her sky-high heels.

"Yes, Mel, they're on the island." Joe replied exasperatedly. "What is is with you and waffles, anyway?" He added, suspiciously eyeing the blonde woman in a pink dress, teetering over to the plate of still-steaming, fluffy, golden waffles he had whipped up earlier.

"Not just _anyone's_ waffles." Mel replied, now shuffling her way over to Joe. "Just _your _waffles." She stated, affectionately giving him a peck on the lips. "But, I must eat these on the road. Duty calls. And by duty, I mean meetings. And by meetings, I mean Snapchatting random people while my co-workers talk about important stuff." She ended brightly, giving the air a fist-pump, before plopping her favorite Joe-cooked-food into a tupperware container, and twirling out the door in a blur of blonde-and-pink.

Joe smirked and shook his head at the ridiculousness that was his girlfriend. It was only last year, Ryder's senior year in high school, that Mel (finally) admitted that she had feelings for Joe, and that he didn't really need to be working for them as a "manny-slash-freelance" as she put it, anymore. Happily fired, they started dating, and everything had been uphill ever since.

Once he was sure that her little Mini Cooper was gone, he raced upstairs to Mel's- well, _their_- bedroom and assumed his search. His search for one of her rings. Joe began pawing through the music box that Junior- er, _George_- gave her a few years ago. Sure enough, two rings of the same size were nestled away in the very corner of the box. One of them appeared to be costume jewelry, the other... looked like an engagement ring?

Joe shook his head as if to shake the image from his mind. He would _not_ let that ruin anything. He dropped the two rings into his pocket, and replaced her music box to her dresser, making sure it seemed like he hadn't been digging around her stuff.

"Alright." He murmured to himself, rubbing his hands together conspiratorially. "I'm gonna buy an engagement ring."

"Ms. Burke? What do you think about the penguin law? Should they be allowed to wear top hats on Sundays?" Some boring guy in a suit asked her in such a serious tone, she had to pinch herself to keep from laughing. Some of these laws were so... stupid.

"Uh... Yeah. It's a free country. Penguins have rights too." She declared as if penguin dress codes in Toledo actually mattered. Let alone the fact that there would be a penguin in Toledo would be preposterous.

She was about to send another Snap to Lennox when she felt an angry growling in her stomach, like Joe's awesome waffles wanted to go back up and rejoin the world.

"If you'll... excuse me." Mel managed, getting up and stumbling out of the room, the stumbling due to aforementioned sick-feeling-ness, and even earlier aforementioned super-high heels. Once out of the meeting room, she kicked off the torture devices that were her shoes and made a break for the restroom.

Two minutes later, and possibly two pounds lighter, Mel wiped her mouth, and desperately dug around the little basket that always contained those mini-one-use-only, travel sized toothbrushes, anxious to get the taste of the puke out of her mouth- though a small part of her felt reminiscent about the old days.

Once she was all vomit-free, and feeling much better, she whipped out her phone and texted to Joe: _Don't know if it was ur waffles of not, but something made me sick, so I'll prbly b home early. See u soon. ;)"_ She contemplated over whether or not to put a heart at the end, but decided against that, feeling it would be too cheesy.

At noon, Mel headed out, toting a box of tissues to make the I'll-be-sick-for-a-while act all the more believable. And it was, seeing as she was followed by kind "Get well soon's" and "Oh, feel better, Mel's," from her co-workers as she hobbled out, wincing at the serious blisters the shoes were already giving her, making a vow to burn them as soon as she got home.

Before heading home, Mel decided to make a quick pit-stop at the nearest Rite-Aid for some Pepto-Bismol... and Skittles.

Mel prowled the aisles until she found the drugs section, giggling at the sign that announced that. Oddly enough, placed on the opposite aisle from all of the meds were pregnancy tests. Mel bit her lip, looking at all of the plus and minus signs on the boxes, feeling like she was back in math class, and the teacher had just asked her to solve a problem. "Now Ms. Burke, what is the answer to this problem?" A condescending voice sounded him her head.

"I don't even know what the problem is." She hissed under her breath, earning a terrified look from a stranger, "Sorry!" She added, nodding at him. The man slowly backed away, and disappeared into the other aisle. Sighing, she snatched up the Pepto, and, on a whim, bought the cheapest pregnancy test, advertising results in just three minutes.

"Joe, I'm home!" She hollered as she half walked, half fell inside through the door. But she got no reply. She saw the note taped to their wine cooler immediately. _Mel- Gone to get groceries, be back soon. Feel better :) -Joe._

She smiled at the sweetness of his note, and busied herself with taking the Pepto, before turning to the box that awaited her.

"Alright, First Response. Let's see if I'm pregnant. As. If." She snorted to herself, though inside, she was a bit worried. Why would she have bought it if she was sure she wasn't pregnant? Maybe she had a fever, and was going a bit loopy. She really hoped that was the reason, because if not... what would she do?

"Mel, baby! I'm home!" Joe called, before realizing his sick (actually sick, not super messed-up) girlfriend was most likely asleep. But no, Mel shuffled out of the kitchen, looking disheveled and upset in her fluffy blue bathrobe (which had originally been white, but met a blue sock in the washer)... and still the most gorgeous woman in the world. And he new he had to ask her, right then.

"Mel, I have to ask you something. Something really important." Oh, god, he thought, his stomach performing Olympic-worthy gymnastics. Forget hundred-foot-drop roller coasters- try proposing to your girlfriend.

"I have something to tell you too." She whispered hoarsely, looking at the ground. It occurred to him that she looked way to sad for a person who just got out of work because they were sick.

"What is it?" Joe asked, sitting her down on the couch, before perching next to her.

"I... I..." Mel tried to find the right words to excuse herself, or maybe just to tell him, but she couldn't, so she just handed him the white stick instead.

Joe first glanced at it almost passively, but when he realized what he was holding, and what it said, his eyes nearly fell out of their sockets (and when he realized which end he was holding, he dropped it on the coffee table, wiping his hand on his jeans).

"You're pregnant?" He was now whispering too. Why? He had no idea what to sound like.

Mel nodded hesitantly, desperately searching his eyes for some kind of reaction. "Are you angry?" She questioned him, her voice a bit stronger now.

Joe blinked at her, snapping out of the dazed trance he had fallen into. "Mad? Mel, this is amazing!" He laughed, leaning over and kissing her. "I can't believe it! We're having a baby!" He exclaimed, beaming ear to ear. Mel, who was extremely relieved that he was taking it so well, grinned as well, placing her hands on her presently flat stomach.

"It's about time, too, I may add." She chuckled. "I'm almost shmirty-smix, if you know what I mean." She elbowed her boyfriend playfully in the ribs.

"Yeah... Um, Mel, about what I was gonna ask you earlier..." Joe began. Cue the Olympic Gymnasts again.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to steal the spotlight." She said apologetically, pushing the hair out of her face. "What's up?"

Joe got up, pulled something out of his pocket (**A/N: I'm not very discreet. So sue me :P)** and put one hand behind his back.

"Mel. You... You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray." His voice wavered as he sang, and slowly, he got down on one knee, and slowly eased open the ring box, revealing to her the diamond ring inside. Mel's eyes began filling with tears as he continued. "You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away." She was crying now. Like actually crying, and panic show through Joe, but before he could apologize for the cheesiness, she beamed at him through the cascade of salt water flowing freely down her face, and he finished with, "Mel, please, please, _please_ say you'll marry me. Otherwise, I'll think I've done something horribly wrong, and _that'll_ be interesting to explain-" But he was cut off by Mel grabbing his shirt and pulling him to her, kissing him with such force, passion and love, he would have been knocked off of his feet, had he not been on his knees already.

"Of course I'll marry you, you idiot." She beamed at him, wiping away the tears of happiness that were still leaking out of her eyes, and noticed that Joe's eyes were shining too, though she never outed him for it, like she normally would have. Instead, she held out her left hand to him, and he carefully slid the ring onto her finger, letting out a mental sigh of relief when he saw that it fit perfectly.

"Let's become a real family, Joe Longo."

* * *

**So... yeah! Let me know what you think (Too cheesy, too predictable, not like them, etc...) I got the You Are My Sunshine idea from my dad, who sang that to my mom when he proposed. She also cried. :) Very sweet, in my opinion.**

**Question: How would you propose to someone/ How would you like someone to propose to you? (Like, would you like them to classically place the ring in your champagne when you're not looking? Or shout it to you while skydiving? Etc)**

**Hope you liked it! I sure do :)**


	2. Chapter 2: The Months

**A/N: Second chapter, as promised! I've noticed I'm really, REALLY bad at closing sentences, so I'm just warning you: this chapter's just gonna drop off at the end, because I've given up ;) Hope you all like this part!**

**~Caitlyn**

* * *

_Month three_

"WHAT?!" Mel had to yank the phone away from her ear at Lennox's scream. "YOU'RE PREGNANT?" Mel bit her lip, as she couldn't tell whether her niece was angry or not.

"Yeah, Len." At this, Lennox made her happy giggle-scream thing, and Mel could picture the short, blond girl jumping up and down for joy.

"Oh my god, that's great! Does Joe know? It is Joe's, _right_?" Lennox's voice turned serious all of a sudden, as if Mel would be in huge trouble from her niece is it wasn't.

Mel laughed at her deathly serious tone. "Of course! It's his, and he knows and..." She trailed off, not sure if she should tell her niece the rest over the phone.

"Aaand?" Len dragged out the word far longer than she needed to,

"Aaand he and I can't wait to see my sweet niece tomorrow! Fly safe, okay honey? We wouldn't want you to miss Joe's cooking- I mean, Thanksgiving. You and I have to watch the parade together!" Mel made a super melodramatic, loud kissy noise into the phone. "Love you. Okay. Buh bye." She hung up, and as if on cue, there was a knock on the door.

She hurried over and flung open the door. "Ryder!" She cried, and hugged him tightly, as though it had been years, not months, since she'd last seen him.

"Hey, Aunt Mel." He choked out. "Can you let go? I... can't... breathe!" He gasped out. Sighing, she released her vice grip on her nephew, and gave him a once once- over.

"Well, you look good. Less scrawny. Come on into the kitchen, Joe's starting on the food two days early." She patted his shoulder and started into the kitchen. "Oh, and Ryder?"

"Yeah, Aunt Mel?"

"I'm pregnant."

"WHAT?!"

_Month Five_

"What color should we paint the nursery?" Mel wondered aloud to Joe. They were standing in front of a massive wall of color samples, creating a rainbow and then some of color.

"Well, we would be able to rule out certain colors if we _knew the gender_ of our baby!" Joe said irritably.

"But we agreed that it would be a surprise!" Mel whined, resting her hand on her protruding belly.

Feeling that he had already lost that battle, Joe gave up and started looking for a gender-neutral color for the room.

"How about this beige?" He suggester, pulling out a hideous shade of brown that Mel had only seen on unfortunate shag rugs from the 80's.

"And I only just got over my morning sickness." She groaned, pushing the color away. "How about white?" She suggested, picking up a plain white sampler.

Joe wrinkled his nose.

"C'mon, Burke, what kid would want to grow up in a plain white room?" He challenged her, putting it back. And then both of their eyes landed on the most cheerful yellow either of them had seen. It was light- not too mustard-like, and made you think of summer days, picturesque, clichéd frolicking through meadows, and just happy, sunny stuff.

They reached for it at the same time, and didn't even have to say anything aloud. It was just decided, and that was that.

They bought the buckets of paint, the paint rollers, and the painting tape, along with a bunch of other odds and ends that Joe "desperately needed".

"Okie dokie." Mel swung open the door to the empty guest room in a grand gesture. "Get paining, Longo."

Joe made a face at her. "Why do you get to get out of painting?"

"Because I'm pregnant and the fumes would be bad for the baby, according to the internet." She told him primly, before tossing a roll of tape at him. "I can help with the blue tapey stuff."

So they got to work.

_Seven months_

"Now reach for your partner's hands, and send soothing vibes to them through body language and warm thoughts." The birthing coaches' voice was silky smooth and laced with confidence, yet it grated on Mel's nerves.

"I hate this, I hate you, this sucks." She muttered under her breath to Joe, who seemed to be sending vibes of nervousness instead of "soothing".

"You're not in labor yet, no need act like it." Joe quipped. She made a face at him that clearly warned him to back off. Or else. "Okay, okay, so what if this class is kinda stupid? It might help us later on." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. Most women get teary-eyed and emotional when they were pregnant. Mel just got pissy.

"This is stupid, it's not like we're actually gonna do this when I'm giving birth. I'm not gonna be like "Hey, Joe, between contractions, can you send loving vibes to me through your body language and hand motions"? Not gonna happen."

_Eight months_

"So? How does our baby's room look?" Mel asked, stepping into the finished nursery, looking around happily. Joe wiped away the sweat from his brow, as he had just finished moving a bureau up the stairs and into the room.

"Beautiful." He affirmed, giving the cheery yellow room a once over. Mel bent down for the small box on gender-neutral clothing received at her baby shower.

"I think we're ready."

_Labor_

"GIVE ME YOUR STUPID HANDS, LONGO!" Mel hollered in her fiancé's face during her next contraction.

"You just said you don't want me touching you!" He cried at her, terribly confused.

"And now I do, so do as I say!" She demanded, her face scrunched up in pain.

"You know, that is advisable at this time. Ms. Burke, we're about to start pushing."

Mel made a face, and looked at Joe helplessly. "I can't do this."

He squeezed her hand. "Yes, you can, I'm right here with you."

"Gee, thanks, that's super helpful. While we're on the subject of you being here, can you have this baby with me- AAH!" She cried as another contraction took hold.

Twenty minutes, and a whole lot of screaming, and near fainting (from Joe), a wail rang out, and Mel flopped back on the pillows.

"Congratulations on a baby girl!" The doctor said, smiling on them. Mel caught a wisp or brown hair before her baby was whisked away to be cleaned up and weighed.

"A baby girl?" Joe murmured, rubbing his hands, still sore from Mel's vise grip.

Mel peered at him nervously. "You were hoping for a boy, weren't you?" She guessed dejectedly.

The defiance on his face after that statement immediately proved her wrong. "I told you, I love our baby no matter what, and I stand by that statement." He declared, and as if on cue, the doctor walked in, holding the baby, and handed her to Mel.

"7 pounds and 20.5 inches. Congratulations on a perfectly healthy baby girl." He said. Mel looked at her baby with all the love and care she had inside her.

"So, did we agree on the name yesterday?" Joe clarified, his eyes locked on the baby.

"Yup." She glanced at him before announcing "Meet Ava May Burke.. er, Longo... huh..." She looked Joe again. "You wanna hold her?"

Hesitantly, he nodded, and reached out to pick up this tiny human being, who was sound asleep, swaddled in a light pink blanket. "Hey Ava. I'm you daddy." He cooed, rocking her a little.

Mel bit back a laugh at the sight of this over-muscular guy rocking a tiny little baby, and talking like one too.

"Wait, Joe. Did you call Lennox and Ryder?" She asked suddenly, sitting up straighter.

Joe paused. "Oh, _crap_." He shook his head. "Lennox is gonna crazy-murder us, isn't she?" he guessed, looking at Mel for affirmation.

"Yup. And Ryder too, probably." Mel reached into Joe's back pocket for his phone, making him jump a little. "Alright, might at well get the screaming over with now."

"Be careful." Joe warned jokingly, still rocking Ava gently.

Mel dialed Ryder's number first to spare herself the screaming, if only for a minute.

"Hullo?"

"Hey, Ryder. It's Aunt Mel. I just wanted to tell you that I... we... I had the baby. It's a girl, and her name is Ava." Mel smiled at her daughter in Joe's arms.

"What? Really?" Ryder's normally deep voice wen up about an octave at this.

"Well I wouldn't tell you that if I didn't, kid." Mel replied, matter-of-factly.

"Okay, then. Uh... Tomorrow is Friday... After my classes I could drive up to Toledo I think..." Ryder trailed off, obviously calculating the route in his head.

"Alright, but if it interferes with your classes, we'll see you soon anyway. Love you. Bye." Mel hung up, and then handed the phone to Joe. He took it in one hand, looking surprised.

"Aren't you gonna call Lennox?" He asked.

"Nope. You get to call your other little girl."

Looking absolutely petrified, Joe reluctantly handed Ava back to Mel, and dialed the number.

"Hey Len. Yeah, this is Joe. No, we're fine, I- Yes, yes, I know, but- Lennox! Shh. Yeah, Mel had the baby. Her name is Ava." Just the name made him smile at the girls, his girls. A slip second later, that smile turned into a face of pain and he yanked the phone from his ear. "Lennox! Would you quiet down please?! I'm not yelling at you! Oh wait, sorry. It's Italian for love!" They bickered like that for a bit, and Mel felt jealous that she was not the one doing the bickering, but quickly shrugged it off as she stared down at her daughter's face. Ava had Joe's hair, but Mel's nose, and the cutest, tiniest little fingers.

"Lennox will be here in a couple of weeks." Joe informed her, leaning his chin on Mel's shoulder.

"So we have time to get used to getting tired and cranky?"

"No, so we have time to clean ourselves up and look nice, apparently." Joe grumbled, obviously annoyed at Lennox's obsession with looks.

But Mel giggled. "It doesn't matter." She sighed, tweaking Ava's little nose. "She's so cute."

* * *

**Sorry it's a day late. I don't have a good excuse besides school.**

**Question: What's your fave dessert? (Mine is an M&M cookie Pie)**

**Please review and stuff! :)**


	3. Chapter 3: Thanks(giving)!

**A/N: The last chapter! I decided to go all-out on this chapter, complete with cheesiness, confusing lines, and lots of words! I'll probably realize all of my errors in this later, but I'm honestly so tired that I can hardly see straight. So... yeah. Thanks for reviewing and favoriting and putting up with me! I appreciate you all and I hope you like my chapter of pure cheese :)**

**I don't own Melissa & Joey, but I do own Ava Longo, and that's some sort of coonsolation... right?**

**~Caitlyn**

* * *

"AND YOU'RE GONNA HEAR ME ROAAAAR!" Shrieked Ava as she bounded down the hall, filled with an eight-year-old's boundless energy.

"Ava!" Mel groaned, stumbling out of her room. "It's seven in the morning. What are you doing?"

"Singing Katy Perry, of course." Ava rolled her eyes like this was an obvious thing, and her mother was silly not to understand.

"Riiight." Mel drew out the word. "How about we sing downstairs? Go anno- I mean, sing to your daddy while he makes his famous waffles." She suggested, leading the child down the stairs.

"Daddy! You're making WAFFLES?" Ava cried excitedly, running down to the kitchen to greet him, and nearly tripping over her froggy slippers in the process.

"Yes I am, princess." He beamed at his daughter, but shot Mel a look that said _I will get you for this_. Usually, the mornings were the only time he had to himself. He loved his family, but sometimes he just wanted to _breathe_.

"Daddy, I love your waffles! You cook good." Ava declared, giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek before wriggling out of his arms.

He chuckled as she bounded out of the room, off to who knows where. "Mel-" He began, but his wife cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah I know. 'It's your only time alone'" She mimicked Joe with an exaggeratedly low voice. "But she was singing Katy Perry right outside our room! I had to do something. Your waffles are my best way out." She defended herself, and snatched up a piece of waffle before he could bat her hand away.

"Leave my waffles out of this. They're totally innocent." He warned, pointing his spatula at her. She held her hands up in mock surrender, still chewing.

"What I don't understand is that it's summer, and she still wakes up early. When I was her age, I tried to sleep in until _noon."_ Mel mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Mel, we've been over this a thousand times. Your adolescence? Always a horrible example."

"It's not like you're any better." She shot back.

They bantered like this back and forth until there was a knock on the kitchen door. Mel walked over to answer it.

"And don't even get my started on Tiffa- Hi, Ryder!" Mel's tone switched from playful argumentative to loving and excited as she (tried to) throw her arms around her favorite nephew, who was somehow even taller than he had been a few years ago. "You just don't stop growing, do you?" She asked, pushing down on his head jokingly. He grinned at placed his bag at the foot of the stairs before going over to Joe.

"Heey, Ryder. Happy Thanksgivingtime" Joe greeted him with a man-hug, and Mel snickered at the sight of Joe being dwarfed by his adoptive nephew.

"Hey, Joe! I'll be right back, I just need to help Kiera with her stuff." He darted out of the kitchen like a six foot-four... fast... guy. Mel didn't have any similes for him yet.

"I can't believe that he and Kiera are still together after eleven years." Mel mused, shaking her head.

"Well, they're married, and-" Joe looked over at them bringing in their stuff and cut himself off, eyes wide. He began snickering. "You're gonna have a heart attack, Mel, but Kiera... um... Swallowed a globe." He pointed.

Sure enough, Kiera set her bag down, one hand resting on her obviously very pregnant belly, before going over to hug Mel and Joe.

"It's so good to see you all!" She squealed, throwing her arms around her aunt-in-law."

"Oh my goodness! Are you-?" Mel began to ask, her eyes wide as she hugged her niece-in-law.

"Oh, and Aunt Mel!" Ryder called as he came back in. "Kiera's pregnant."

Mel threw a scowl in his direction. "Gee, thanks for the heads-up, Ryder."

Kiera hugged Joe briefly, before turning back to Mel. "I can't believe we haven't seen you guys since Easter!" She exclaimed, obviously very excited to be back, and in no rush to address her pregnancy.

"Me either." Mel murmured, trying to keep her eyes anywhere but the ginormous baby bump.

"So, uh... Ryder." Joe started awkwardly. "When did you find you that you guys were... um... expecting?"

"Meet my husband Joe, King of Tact." Mel gestured sarcastically to the man at her side.

Before they could begin arguing again, Ava ran in. "Kiera! Ryder!" She squeked, hugging both of them. "Kiera?" Ava poked her cousin-in-law's stomach. "You ate a globe?" She guessed looking up at the young woman with shock in her eyes.

Kiera actually laughed at that. "No, I'm having a baby- er, two babies, actually!" She told Ava, patting her swollen stomach.

Mel and Joe's chins simultaneously dropped to the floor and they turned to Ryder. "_Twins?_" They both exclaimed at once.

"Hey, don't look at me like it's a bad thing!" Ryder said defensively, and Mel realized he was right. He was twenty-seven, married, and had a house. He was totally fine.

"Sorry, honey. You just caught us by surprise." Mel apologized, and then nudged Joe in the ribs, getting him to do so as well.

"Oh, uh, yeah, totally." He stammered

"Thanks." Ryder grinned, both his and Kiera's bags up to his old room- now a guest room.

"Are Lennox and Roman on their way?" Ava asked of her cousins.

"I think so. Actually, I'll check." Mel whipped out her phone and dialed Lennox's number quickly.

"Hullo?" A sleepy voice answered.

"Hey, Len, it's Aunt Mel. Ava wants to know if you're on your way yet." Mel totally threw Ava under the bus, pretending that only her daughter was curious, but to be honest, Mel was dying to know. She hadn't seen her niece since Christmas, and she was dying to see her Lennox, Len's husband, and their son Tyler.

"Aunt Mel, it's two am in the morning here on a Sunday. You know I'm flying out on Monday. Ava knows that. Now what do you want?" Lennox still sounded groggy, but at least she was still talking.

"I just... I miss you honey." Mel finally said.

"Uh-huh. What happened?"

"Oh, you know me so well!" Mel said proudly, before whispering "Ryder and Kiera are having twins!"

"Yeah, I know. Ryder told me two months ago. Is that it?" Len obviously didn't care that only Mel and Joe didn't know about this, which hurt Mel's feelings a bit.

"Yeah, hon. That's it." She didn't hide the hurt in her voice, and Lennox sighed.

"Aunt Mel, I'm sorry Ryder didn't tell you. If I'd known, I would have called you. And I'll be back with you guys soon, and we can talk a lot then. Tyler kept me up late last night, and I'm super tired." Her exhaustion bled through on the phone, and Mel could sympathize. Forget the terrible twos- it was the four-year-olds you had to watch out for.

"Okay, I'm sorry too. Get some sleep then. I love you and I'll see you soon. Bye, now." She hung up the phone, feeling much better than she had five minutes ago.

"Mommy!" Ava tugged on Mel's shirtsleeve. "What did Lennox say?" She asked anxiously, bouncing on the balls of her feet, which made her honey-blonde hair fly up and down with her.

Mel smiled. "She'll be here tomorrow, baby. Now let's go play with Ryder and Kiera and Daddy okay?" She picked Ava up and swung her around before heading into the living-room-turned-playroom with her daughter, where Joe sat on the couch, eagerly chatting with Ryder and Kiera, while one of Ryder's hands laced with Kiera's on her belly. Mel felt her heart swell up at the sight of some of her family and love of her life just being there. Ava ran over to Joe and hurled herself onto her daddy's arms. He caught her easily, and promptly began tickling his daughter, earning peals of high-pitched laughter as she tried to wiggle away. He laughed at her antics and stopped tickling her, giving her a kiss on the head.

"Get over here, Mrs. Longo!" Joe called to his wife affectionately. "Ryder's telling us about the time he and Kiera got lost in New York City!"

Ryder laughed. "Mrs. Too-Proud-For-A-Map got us so lost we ended up in another _city_!"

Kiera made a face. "We got back... eventually."

Mel joined the group, and ended up laughing so hard that she nearly cried at how silly their lives were, and how grateful she was that this was her family. This was who they were.

"Joe! What is that?" Mel demanded, pointing at the humongous pinkish-white thing taking up most of the space on her kitchen island counter.

"That, my dear clueless one, is a turkey." Joe said from behind her, kissing her cheek as he walked into the kitchen, grocery bags in hand. Mel dropped her own bags, filled with various vegetables and dressings, on the little space left to her by the obnoxious turkey.

"I know what Thanksgiving turkeys look like, Longo. That is a turkey on steroids who met the Hulk." She quipped, poking it with her finger.

"Fine, you don't have to have any." He chirped back, pulling the turkey out of her reach.

"Bleeh." She stuck her tongue out at him, before remembering that she was not, in fact, five years old.

"We have..." Joe paused to count something in his head. "Ten people to feed, and these people have appetites. It was either this or the two freakishly small turkeys."

"Ten? We have you, me, Ava, Len, Roman, Tyler, Kiera and Ryder. That's eight. How long ago did you take first grade math?" She rolled her eyes at Joe.

"I... May have invited my mom... and your father..." Joe mumbled, suddenly very busy with preparing the turkey.

"You _what?_" Mel growled, but before she could kill him with her shoe, Lennox and Roman walked in, saving Joe from certain death-by-stiletto.

"AUNT MEL!" Lennox cried happily, running over to hug her dear aunt. "I've missed you so much! JOE!" She cried, and hurried over to hug him too, having to reach up, still being somewhat short. Mel always found it amusing to have her fully grown niece and nephew stand right next to each other just to enjoy the drastic difference in height.

"Roman, good to see you." Mel greeted Lennox's husband warmly, and then crouched down to greet the little blonde boy holding his hand. "Well, hello there, Tyler!" She grinned at her grand-nephew, and gave him a tight hug. He hugged her back, happy to see her.

"Hi Grammy!" Mel still felt weird being called that, but she felt more like Ty's grandma than his great-aunt, so when he started calling her that of his own accord, she let him. Joe wasn't so sure about being called Grampy, but she bullied him into being okay with it.

Ava ran into the room and positively lit up when she saw her cousins. "Lennox! Roman! Tyler!" She squealed, running to hug each and every one of them. "Can Tyler and I go watch the parade? Pleeeeeease?" She asked Roman, already holding Tyler's other hand.

Roman laughed. "Sure, go ahead. Remember, Tyler, play nice!"

Tyler laughed and followed Ava into the playroom.

"Is that Lennox and Roman I hear?" Kiera's voice floated down from upstairs. "I'll be down in a minute. Me and my belly are pretty slow." Eventually, Kiera appeared on the landing above the kitchen stairs, carefully making her way down. "I can hardly see my feet- oof!" Kiera was cut off as Lennox ran over to hug her tightly.

"Kiera! It's so good to see you!" She beamed at her sister-in-law. Kiera smiled back. The two began chattering and complaining and cooing about babies, and eventually, Ryder came down and he and Roman went into the living room to check on the kids, which was code for watching the parade as well. Mel and Joe made their way into the living room too, eventually, followed by Kiera and Lennox. Everyone eventually found a spot to sit and watch the parade,while chattering and catching up with each other at the same time. Mel stood off to the side with Joe, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Is this what it's like to be old?" She asked him. "Watching your family grow up and change, when you thought everything could just stay the same?"

"I'm not that insightful, honey, but I know that we're not old." He smiled, pressing his lips to her head. "And that our family is perfect."

"If you mean adorably dysfunctional, then yeah, totally perfect." She quipped, and they laughed quietly.

"Either way, this, right here?" Joe gestured to their little family, happy and... currently bickering over whether to watch the pre-game show or the rest of the parade. "This is worth every hard time we've been through."

"Why, Joe Longo, did you just make an insightful comment?" Mel asked her husband in mock shock, staring at him with wide eyes.

"Don't make me say it again." He replied, his voice suddenly all manly-like and gruff.

Mel laughed again, but realized he was right. These moments were worth everything. This was a life worth living for, Ava, her grand nieces and nephews, her love, everything. She wouldn't trade it for anything, and she knew Joe wouldn't either. Sure, everything wouldn't be happily ever after and perfect all of the time. But at the ripe old age of forty-five, she realized she and Joe were just beginning. They still had a long, long way to go.

And she couldn't wait to see what would come next.

* * *

**I hope you liked it! Like I said earlier, I can barely see straight, so I'm sure I'll be editing this sooner or later.**

**Question: How many tacks would a Tic-Tac tack if a Tic-Tac could tack tacks?**

**Please Review! This story has been lots of fun to write, and I really appreciate all of the response I've gotten on it! I'm gonna miss Ava, but I'm sure I'll be writing more about her soon!**

**Byenow!**


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